AN ACT relating to the Lake Tahoe Basin; requiring the
issuance of general obligation bonds to carry out certain environmental
improvement projects included in the second phase of the Environmental
Improvement Program for the Lake Tahoe Basin; and providing other matters
properly relating thereto.

[Approved: June 16, 2011]

(Leadlines for sections have been supplied by the
Legislative Counsel of the State of Nevada)

Whereas, The
Lake Tahoe Basin exhibits unique environmental and ecological conditions that
are irreplaceable; and

Whereas, This
State has a compelling interest in preserving, protecting, restoring and
enhancing the natural environment of the Lake Tahoe Basin; and

Whereas, The
preservation, protection, restoration and enhancement of the natural
environment of the Lake Tahoe Basin is a matter of such significance that it
must be carried out on a continual basis; and

Whereas, In
October 1997, Governor Bob Miller, on behalf of the State of Nevada, signed a
Memorandum of Agreement between the Federal Interagency Partnership on the Lake
Tahoe Ecosystem, the States of Nevada and California, the Washoe Tribe of
Nevada and California, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and interested local
governments, in which the parties affirmed their commitment to the Tahoe
Regional Planning Compact, to the sound management and protection of the
resources within the Lake Tahoe Basin and the support of a healthy, sustainable
economy and to achieve environmental thresholds for Lake Tahoe, and agreed to
cooperate to carry out, including, without limitation, providing financial support
for, the Environmental Improvement Program; and

Whereas, The
costs of carrying out the Environmental Improvement Program have been
apportioned among the Federal Government, the States of Nevada and California
and the local governments and private property owners within both states; and

Whereas, The
cost of carrying out the second phase of the Environmental Improvement Program
for the State of Nevada and its political subdivisions is $100,000,000; and

Whereas, Section
3 of chapter 431, Statutes of Nevada 2009, at page 2417, authorized the State
Board of Finance to issue general obligation bonds of the State of Nevada in a
total face amount of not more than $100,000,000 to provide money to carry out
the second phase of the Environmental Improvement Program; and

Whereas, Section
1 of chapter 431, Statutes of Nevada 2009, at page 2416, granted approval to
the State Board of Finance to issue $4,420,000 of those general obligation
bonds to provide money to carry out certain environmental improvement projects
included in the second phase of the Environmental Improvement Program; and

Whereas, The
general obligation bonds authorized by chapter 431, Statutes of Nevada 2009,
may only be issued with the prior approval of the Legislature or the Interim
Finance Committee and pursuant to a schedule established by the Administrator
of the Division of State Lands of the State Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources; now, therefore,

The
People of the State of Nevada, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as
follows:

Section 1. Environmental
Improvement Program: Funding; initial issuance of bonds.Money to carry out the Environmental
Improvement Program for the Lake Tahoe Basin established pursuant to section 1
of chapter 514, Statutes of Nevada 1999, at page 2627, must be provided by the
issuance by the State Board of Finance of general obligation bonds of the State
of Nevada in a total face amount of not more than $12,000,000 pursuant to NRS 349.150 to 349.364, inclusive. The proceeds of
the bonds issued pursuant to this section must be deposited in the Fund to
Protect the Lake Tahoe Basin created pursuant to section 2 of chapter 514,
Statutes of Nevada 1999, at page 2628, and, except as otherwise provided in
this section, must be used as follows:

1. Activities
related to the Environmental Improvement Program to be carried out by the State
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources:

(c) Protection of sensitive species and improvement of
wildlife habitat. $335,000

(d) Control
of invasive terrestrial and aquatic species............................... $300,000

2. Water quality,
erosion control and stream restoration and enhancement projects of the
Environmental Improvement Program to be carried out pursuant to grants and
project agreements........ $8,827,500

1. The Division of State Lands of the
State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources may combine the
contingency money authorized pursuant to subsection 3 of section 1 of this act
with any other contingency money authorized by the Legislature to carry out an
environmental improvement project that is paid for with money from the Fund to
Protect the Lake Tahoe Basin.

2. If an amount authorized to carry out
the projects set forth in section 1 of this act or any other environmental
improvement project that is paid for with money from the Fund to Protect the
Lake Tahoe Basin is insufficient to allow the completion of the project for
which it is authorized, including, without limitation, any monitoring necessary
to ensure the continued effectiveness of the project:

(a) The Division of State Lands may, without the
prior approval of the Interim Finance Committee, allocate the contingency money
authorized pursuant to subsection 3 of section 1 of this act, including any
money combined therewith pursuant to subsection 1, to carry out an
environmental improvement project that is paid for with money from the Fund to
Protect the Lake Tahoe Basin; and

(b) Upon the request of the Division of State
Lands, the Interim Finance Committee may increase the amount authorized for the
project and offset the increase by reducing the amount authorized for another
environmental improvement project or projects that are paid for with money from
the Fund to Protect the Lake Tahoe Basin by the amount of the increase.

3. The Division of State Lands may use
money authorized pursuant to section 1 of this act for a project other than a
project listed in section 1 of this act if the Interim Finance Committee
approves such a use in writing before the Division of State Lands engages in
the project.